Plaiter-down folding attachment and method of laying the cloth



A. E. YATES Oct. 15, 1940.

2,218,062 PLAITERDOWN FOLDING ATTACHMENT AND METHOD OF LAYING CLOTHFiled Jan. 20, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 A. E. YATES 2,218,062

Filed m. 20, 1939 a Sheets-Sheet 3 HIHH I I HHW H H nmrrr Li r PFCP guUndo! W 6. W

Oct. 15, 1940.

PLAITER-DOWN FOLDING ATTACHMENT AND METHOD OF LAYING THE CLOTH PatentedOct. 15,1940

PLAITER-DOWN FOLDINGATTACHMENT AND METHOD OF LAY nG-THE CLOTH ArthurEdward Yates, i lintston Ga. Application January 20, 1939, Serial No.252,023

.- 7 Claims.

My invention relates to an improvement in plaiter-down foldingattachments and method of laying the cloth. 1

. Hitherto, the recognized best practice has been to wind the goods onrollers, and afterwards unwind the cloth before the material is placedon any other continuous machine, because the end of the cloth, which isalways next to the wooden roller, cannot be reached in order to sew theend onto another roll of fabric, thus making an additional operationnecessary in order to get the cloth from the roll back to the boxes.

I have found this additional operation, which necessarily takesconsiderable extra time and handling of the goods, can be entirelyomitted; and it is the purpose of my invention to do this, which I havesucceeded in doing very satisfactorily by my improvements.

.In the accomplishment of this object, my invention consists in meansfor lowering the cloth without first Winding it on a roller, directlyinto a box placed therebeneath, and when that is filled, quicklyshifting the feeding mechanism to a point above another box where theoperation continues uninterruptedly until that is; filled, and duringits filling removing the filled box and replacing it with an empty box,which in turn is filled by shifting the cloth to a point thereabove fromanoverhead carriage, and thus continuing and repeating the method,without interrupting, the continuous operation of the machine andmethod. 1 In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the presen form of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation; and

Fig. 3 is a view in part similar to Fig. 1,,with

the remaining part diagrammatic, to illustrate the way the cloth ishandled without winding on 40 a roll,

grooved wheels I at each end, which fit and travel on rails 2, providedtherefor, which inturn are supported on the superstructure 3 of the 45framework of the machine.

Sprocket-chains 4 pass in'opposite directions,

over the sprocket-Wheels 5 supported on the frame 6 of the machine, andtheir ends are brought to the opposite ends of the carriage A,

means 1.

The carriage is moved back and forth by any approved means such as anendless chain 8 which is hung over a wheel 9 on one end of the shaft 5510 which carries two of the sprocket-wheels 5.

A represents an overhead carriage wi-thtwo where they are held by anyapproved fastening To counterbalance the pull of the carriage, due totheweight of the cloth and the pull of the drive belt, a cable II isattached at some'convenient point to the sprocket-chain 4 and thencepassed around pulleys I2 and I3, down into a pipe l4, where it isprovided with the necessary number of weights l5 to counterbalance. Thepipe not only guides the weights in their movement up and down with themovement of the carriage, but also provides a'safeguard for theprotection of the operator of the machine.

A more or'less standardized delivery mechanism is provided for foldingthe cloth back and forth in layers in the box placed therebeneath,

and this mechanism generally consists of a pair of arms ll mounted onthe shaft 18,- one arm I! at each end of the machine as shown in Fig. 2,and-crank mechanism. l9 and connecting rod for swinging the arms I! backand forth, thus providing a continuously swinging delivery mechanism. a

This delivery mechanism is supported by brackets 2| depending from thecarriage A. Th'e cloth C is taken from a roll R. upwardly over a shaft23, thence over the main roll 24 on shaft l8, and then downwardlybetween a pair of rollers 25 and 26,: one above the other and bothcarried at the lower. ends of the arms I1, and between which the clothis fed. downwardly to the boxes.

The lower roller v281s driven by a belt 21 from the main roll 24. Anendless drive belt B, pref-- V erably of constant speed, is passedoverpulley 28,-

thence around idle pulley 40, then around a pulley on the shaft.l8,-then over pulleys 29 and 30 10-. cated at oppositepoints on theframework Got the machine, and finally back to any source of power (notshown). A belt extends from a pulley'42 on shaft I8 to a drum 43 onshaft23i for'transmitting motion from one to the others. 4 My. improvedmethod is distinguished from previous methods since heretofore it hasbeen the invariable custom to wind the goods on a; roller just previousto being delivered and re-i moved from the plaiter-down or folding mat-45 chines, and that has been supported'at a fixed point, and hence thegoods were always delivered therefrom at a single point, whereas with myimprovement one operation of winding the" goods upon a roll is entirelydispensed with, and thus the operation of unwinding the goods been; theycan be placed on any other continuous mag-3 chine is unnecessary, and,furthermore, cloth "is saved which hitherto amounted to a. large amountof loss, since with my method the goods are laid in the boxessuccessively and can be cut in two by the operator at the seam where twostrips have been previously sewed together. To carry out this method,the end 32 of the cloth is preferably first hung over one edge of thebox, as shown at the lower left in Fig. 3, and as it is paid out by thecontinuous delivery from above with the constant swinging of thefolderarms l1, it then is caused by a little manipulation on the part ofthe operator, to take the general position indicated at 33, until thebox is filled as shown at 34. When thus filled, the operator loops itdown, preferably as shown at 35, in Fig. 3, and repeats the operation asshown at 33and 34, and he cuts the cloth apart at 36, thenremoving thefilled box and replacing it with the next one, as shown in Fig. 1,thusalways' having an empty box ready, so thatthe operation may continuewithout interruption.

The operator pulls the carriage A back and forth to insure the properposition directly,- above the box being filled. much timeis saved, andpractically no material need be wasted, and there are always two freeends of thecloth accessible for attachment to the end of another pieceof goods, so that the next operation can be proceeded with, with littleor no interruption, andwith much less loss of time than heretofore.

When the carriage. A is being moved to the right, as shown in Figs. 1and 3, the cloth is delivered slower because the main roll 24 is movingaway from the source of supply of cloth which thereby places the clothunder more tension from the pull thereon. Also, since the belt B travelsat a constant speed, the roller 24 will not revolve as fast while it isbeing moved in the belts direction of travel, between the roller 24 andthe pulley 29. When the carriage is being moved to the left, the, clothfeed will be faster, both because the tension thereon is lessened andthe roller 24 is revolved faster as it is being moved; toward the sourceof supply of cloth, and in a direction opposite to the direction oftravel of the constant speed belt B. l

This attachment is applicable to any machine working with textilematerial. Whilethe element B has been shown as an ordinary endless drivebelt, obviously either a chain or cable might be employed just as wellas a belt.

Iclaim: l. A method asherein described, which consists in positioninga-continuously swinging de-. livery. mechanism at a predetermined pointwith respect to a box to be filled, moving the delivery mechanism toanother predetermined point without interrupting the continuous feed ofthe materialfrom the delivery mechanism to another box to be filled,starting the feed ofthematerial by placing one end thereof over an edgeof the first box to .be filled, so that it depends outside of. thelatter, and after filling the first box, looping a portion over theopposite edge and. down along its side, and over the adjacent edge ofthe other box, and cutting the material apart at some point in the loopformed in the cloth between the two receptacles.

, 2. The combination of a carriage, a swinging delivery mechanismcarried thereby, and manually operated flexible means for shifting theposition of the carriage to a predetermined point, while the machine isin operation, above a receptacle stationed to receive the materialbeingdelivered.

3. The combination of a movable carriage, swinging delivery mechanismsupported thereby through which the material to be delivered therefromis fed, flexible means extending from the carriage in oppositedirections, means over which said flexible means is rove for moving thecarriage into selected positions, and manually operated flexible meansfor moving said flexible means in opposite directions to control themovement of the carriage.

4. The combination of a movable carriage, swinging delivery mechanismsupported thereby through which the material to be delivered therefromis fed, flexible means extending from. the carriage in oppositedirections, means over which said flexible means is rove for moving thecarriage into selected operating positions, manuually operated beltmeans for moving said flexible means in opposite directions to controlthe movement of the carriage, and counterbalance means attached to saidflexible means.

. -5. The combination of a carriage, rails mounted on a frame and uponwhich the carriage travels, means for shifting the carriage topredetermined positions, rollers over which cloth is fed, an endlessdrive-belt which travels at a constant speed and which is passed aroundan idle pulley carried by. the carriage, a pulley on the main roll.carried by the carriage and around idle pulleys at opposite points onthe frame, whereby the cloth is fed slowly when the carriage is beingmoved in one direction, and faster when being moved in the oppositedirection.

6. The combination of a carriage, rails mounted on a frame and uponwhichthe carriage travels, means for shifting the carriage back andforth to predetermined positions, rollers over which cloth is fed, anendless drive-belt which travels at a constant speed and which is passedaround an idle pulley carried by the carriage, a pulley on the main rollcarried by the carriage and around idle pulleys at opposite points onthe frame, whereby the cloth is fed slowly when the carriage isbeingmoved in one direction, and faster when being moved in the oppositedirection, and swinging'delivery mechanism carried by the carriage anddepending from the main roll for laying the cloth in folds. 1 7.- Thecombination of a carriage, rails mounted on a frame and upon which thecarriage travels, means for shifting the carriage back and forth topredetermined positions, rollers overwhich cloth is fed, an endlessdrive-belt which travels at a constant speed and which is passed aroundan idle pulley carried by the carriage, a pulley on the main rollcarried by the carriage and around idle pulleys at opposite ends of theframe, whereby the cloth is fed slowly when the carriage is being movedin one direction, and faster when it is being moved in the oppositedirection, swinging delivery mechanism carried by the carriage forlaying the cloth in folds, two shafts carried by the carriage on one ofwhich the main roller is secured and concentric with which the deliverymechanism is carried, a drum on the other shaft, means extendingtherefrom to the delivery mechanism for swinging the latter, and a beltextending from the drum shaft to the roller shaft, whereby motion istransmitted from one to the other.

ARTHUR EDWARD YATES.

